The fierce battle continued until after 10 o'clock.

It was not the second air assault force sent by the 17th Panzer Division, nor the 17313th Mechanized Infantry Battalion advancing on the south bank of the Euphrates River, nor the 171st Armoured Brigade and the 177th Mechanized Infantry Brigade, but the infantry company sent by the 7th Panzer Division from Nuhaib.

The battle illustrates a clear story: the morale of the Iraqi army has not yet fallen to the point of collapse.

In the downstream direction of Shinafiyah, the Iraqi army was actually prepared.

According to the prisoners of war, after the coalition forces forced the crossing of the Euphrates River in Semavo, Major General Havani, who was guarding Sinafiyah, transferred several infantry battalions to fortify the north bank downstream. In order to avoid detection by coalition forces, these units operate at night and are dispersed as soon as they arrive at the zone.

Crucially, it's all infantry.

Although the lack of main battle equipment, especially tank fighting vehicles, the combat effectiveness of infantry units is not strong, but on the contrary, the concealment of infantry units is very strong.

Even if it is exposed, it may not be hit.

No matter how powerful the Coalition forces were, they couldn't tell the difference between a group of soldiers and a group of refugees.

In addition, after eight years of fighting in the Iran-Iraq war, at least 500,000 firearms have been lost to the civilian population, and they are mainly scattered in the area south of Bagh X.

During the assault on Bus X, many armed civilians were encountered.

Crucially, the Posha Bay war has not yet developed to the point of firing on refugees.

In addition, after entering the state of deployment, the officers and men of these units rarely go out and spend most of their time hiding in buildings.

As a result, until the battle on Shinafiyah began, the coalition forces did not detect the Iraqi troops secretly deployed on the north bank of the Euphrates.

After the defeat of the first air assault force, neither the coalition command nor the 17th Panzer Division raised their vigilance.

At that time, including Fu Weimin, it was believed that it was nothing more than a defeated army that had been routed in the previous battle and scattered on the north bank of the Euphrates River.

When the second air assault force was blocked again, Major General Fu Weimin of the 17th Panzer Division realized the trouble and then ordered to abandon the assault.

At this point, it was already past 7 o'clock.

Although the 17th Armored Division has several reserves, and it has long been ready for battle and can be dispatched at any time, in the face of complex battlefield situations, even if the officers and soldiers of the grassroots troops move forward bravely, Fu Weimin will not let his subordinates die, let alone make senseless sacrifices.

With the situation at that time, even if the 17th Panzer Division sent a third air assault force, it would not be able to reach Sinafyeh.

On the south bank of the Euphrates, the 17313th Mechanized Infantry Battalion was also in trouble.

It was not the Iraqi army that was blocking the advance of the 17313th Mechanized Infantry Battalion, but a minefield!

Knowing that the bridge over the Euphrates River could not be defended, Major General Havani did not deploy defensive troops on the south bank, but used tens of thousands of mines and laid more than 10 minefields along the south bank road, at least a third of which were anti-armor mines.

If you have to say, the last thing the Iraqi army lacks is landmines!

According to incomplete statistics, during the Iran-Iraq war, more than 1 million mines were used by both warring sides!

The border areas between southern Iraq and the Low Countries of Poland are now off-limits to life, with hundreds of thousands of mines laid.

During the Iran-Iraq war, Iraq spent hundreds of millions of dollars and imported a large number of landmines.

In addition, more mines were produced on their own.

The imports consisted mainly of anti-armoured mines that Iraq was unable to produce, namely small mines that were used in submunitions or dropped by rockets.

As for self-production, it is actually a modification, and most of it is operated by front-line combat units.

Most commonly, artillery shells are loaded with pressure or pull fuses, which are then planted by sappers, usually on communication arteries or at the front of positions.

Because it is easy to modify, the burial is also very simple, there are no requirements for artillery shells, from 203 mm large-caliber howites to 60 mm mortar shells, so these modified mines are very widely used on the battlefield, and there is no way to count the accurate number.

It is so, no one knows how many mines the Iraqi army has in its hands.

Of course, the power of landmines should not be underestimated.

In the Iran-Iraq war, the number of casualties caused by landmines reached 300,000, second only to shelling!

There is not much to say about anti-personnel mines, no matter who steps on them, even if they are not killed, they can only spend the rest of their lives in wheelchairs.

The key is anti-armor mines.

According to the information provided by the Military Intelligence Agency, during the eight years of the Iran-Iraq war, the Hussein authorities procured about 300,000 anti-armor mines from the Hindman Empire and Western Luosha in multiple batches, and only 30% of them were used up before the end of the war, and the remaining 200,000 or so were all stored.

These anti-armor mines are all big killers!

Don't forget, the Riman Empire and Xi Luosha have to face the Eastern Bloc directly, even if they have maintained the offensive momentum, they dare not expect to be able to completely defeat the Liangxia Empire, and in the end they will definitely have to switch from offensive to defensive, and they will have to withstand the steel torrent of the Eastern Bloc in the strategic defense stage.

The key point is that the Western Continent Group will definitely give up the initiative when it is unable to continue the offensive.

That is, at the stage of strategic defense, there will inevitably be very little left of the armored forces of the Western Route Group, and it will not count on relying on armored forces to hold the front.

To put it bluntly, that is, the mountains and rivers are exhausted.

So, how can we hold the front when the mountains and rivers are exhausted?

It's a mine!

It is for this reason that the Western Route Group has always attached great importance to landmines, especially anti-armor mines used against tanks.

Because of the different tactical needs, the Empire and Xiluosha chose two completely different technical lines when developing anti-armor mines.

The anti-armor mines of the Manman Empire pay more attention to deployment performance and are more flexible in tactical use. For example, the MW-1 aviation spreader carried by the Tornado fighter can be loaded with hundreds of anti-armor mines, while a Tornado IDS can carry two on the belly of the aircraft. With just one squad of four Tornado IDS, an anti-armor minefield can be laid in front of a defensive line up to 10 kilometers wide.

In order to improve the tactical flexibility of mines, the Empire also developed anti-armor and anti-personnel mines.

Because it is necessary to achieve the effect of anti-personnel by creating fragments, and at the same time to reduce the mass and increase the dispersion density, the anti-armor effect of this type of dual-use mine is not very good, and it can generally only be used against light targets such as infantry fighting vehicles, and the threat to tanks is not too great.

The anti-armor mines of Xiluosha go to the other extreme, focusing more on power!

Because it directly faces the Eastern Group and confronts the main battle tanks of the Eastern Group head-on, the anti-armor mines in Xiluosha have a hard index, which can at least penetrate the lower armor of the main battle tank of the Liangxia Empire, and the armor-piercing thickness is not less than 500 mm, which also requires more explosives.

Because it is more cumbersome and more difficult to throw, the West Luosha Army is equipped with special minelaying equipment, such as rocket minelaying vehicles.

Of course, the anti-armor mines of the Empire and the West Luosha can be said to have their own merits.

For its part, it is clear that Iraq does not care about the characteristics of these mines.

In fact, during the Iran-Iraq war, Iraq also obtained some anti-armor mines of the Liangxia Empire through oil-producing countries on the southern shore of Posha Bay, such as Saudi Arabia. It's just that there are not many of them, and the anti-armor mines of the Liangxia Empire are very average, and their performance is not outstanding.

In the most important ground battlefield, that is, on the mainland battlefield, the Imperial Army relied not on mines, but on strategic depths up to thousands of kilometers.

In addition, from a strategic point of view, the Imperial Army was mainly defensive in the early stages of the war, and after stabilizing the battle line, it would launch a counterattack.

It can be seen that blocking the enemy by laying mines will inevitably add trouble to yourself in the counterattack phase.

It was for this reason that the Imperial Army paid more attention to mine-sweeping capabilities.

In addition to procuring and equipping mine-clearing equipment with advanced performance, the Imperial Army also developed a number of non-specialized mine-clearing equipment through investment.

The most representative is the thermobaric bomb.

This type of munition, which uses high temperature and high pressure to produce an area of effect of killing, was originally used to clear mines, that is, the high-pressure energy generated by the explosion detonates the mine, so that the entire explosion area can be cleared of mines at once. It's a pity that in order to generate a high enough pressure, thermobaric bombs cannot be made too small to be made into artillery shells or rockets, so they were first supplied to the Air Force and made into aerial bombs.

During the tests, the Air Force discovered that thermobaric shells were very suitable for use against enemies in fortified bunkers.

In the 17313th mechanized infantry battalion, there was an engineer platoon with several minesweepers, the main force of which was 3 rocket minesweepers modified from BZ-68. This minesweeper uses rockets to tow and throw blasting ropes, and then blasts mines with blasting indexes to clear safe passages for tanks and combat vehicles to pass through.

But the problem is that there are too few sappers in a platoon.

As for allowing naval aviation to provide support, by throwing thermobaric bombs to clear mines, even if naval attack aircraft can carry and drop thermobaric bombs, it is impossible to arrange for the time being.

At that time, almost all attack aircraft were on the north bank, clearing obstacles for the air assault forces and covering the assault of the 171st Panzer Brigade towards Shinafyeh.

As a result, by noon, the 17313th Infantry Battalion was still about 15 kilometers away from Sinafyedu, and had advanced only a few kilometers in one morning.

Because it undertook the heavy responsibility of receiving the 171st Armored Brigade and the 177th Mechanized Infantry Brigade and covering the support troops transporting supplies, the 17313th Mechanized Infantry Battalion did not dare to advance lightly, and could only advance honestly and steadily, opening up a safe passage for the follow-up logistics support troops.

In fact, in the original battle plan, the 17313th Battalion was not arranged to assault Shinafiya, let alone assist the special forces in seizing and controlling the Euphrates River Bridge.

The armored forces that assaulted on the north shore were not only threatened by the Iraqi army, but also had logistical problems.

In fact, after dawn, the 171st Armored Brigade had to stop advancing because it needed to replenish fuel for tanks and combat vehicles, and did not complete the replenishment operation until noon, and it was already after 2 p.m. when it set off again, so it was not until evening that the vanguard arrived at Sinafyeh.

Fortunately, Ding Zhennan had already expected it.

Before 7 o'clock, HNA stepped up its investment on the side of Sinafiya.

When the Iraqi army launched the third counterattack, 4 "Attack-5H" arrived in time and dropped about 30 tons of bombs in just a few minutes!

This round of ferocious bombing directly undermined the morale of the Iraqi army.

It has proved once again that fire strikes are the most effective means of destroying the enemy.

If you want to say, this is the value of a heavy attack aircraft!

When carrying out battlefield support missions with a combat radius of more than 500 kilometers, the "Attack-6F" light attack aircraft generally only carry 2 tons of bombs, ensuring that they can stay in the air for at least half an hour without refueling in the air, and return to the departure base after completing the mission. Switching to a heavy attack aircraft like the "Attack-5H", under the same conditions, it can carry up to 6 tons of bombs. If you don't have to stay over the battlefield, you can attack when you arrive, drop a bomb and return home, and you can increase the bomb load to 8 tons. In extreme cases, the "Attack-6H" is capable of carrying 12 tons of bombs to attack targets at a distance of 2,000 kilometers. However, at least 3 in-flight refueling trips were required during the period, and 24 tons of fuel were obtained from the tanker, otherwise it would only be a one-way flight.

It's just that attack aircraft are not omnipotent.

Before 9 o'clock, the 17th Panzer Division launched a long-range fire strike by a long-range rocket artillery battalion of the 174th Artillery Brigade, which had caught up with the 171st Armoured Brigade, firing hundreds of long-range rockets and a round of covered shelling of the Iraqi military camp in Shinafiyah.

Because the error of rocket artillery is too large, it is impossible to perform close-range suppression tasks.

This round of ferocious shelling lasted for half an hour.

By 9:30 a.m., HNA had been able to deploy attack aircraft to support the special forces guarding the bridge.

Under repeated firepower, Shinafiyah's Iraqi army has not launched a threatening counterattack and has never been able to capture the bridgehead.

At 10 o'clock, with the arrival of reinforcements from the 7th Panzer Division, the fierce battle was over.

Although there was only one company of troops, it was still an infantry company, but the helicopter gunships that accompanied it completely shattered the fighting spirit of the Iraqi soldiers.

After the last counterattack was repulsed, the Iraqi army began to retreat, in fact, a rout.

Because of the lack of armored forces and the heavy casualties of the special forces, after calling for an air strike and letting the HNA deal deal with the retreating enemy, Lei Zhenting handed over the position to the officers and men of the 7th Armored Division, and left Sinafye by helicopter with the remains of the dead special forces.

His move also created a small trouble for Ding Zhennan.

As previously arranged, Shinafye was within the occupied zone of the 17th Panzer Division, which was to be controlled by the 17th Panzer Division, and he handed over the bridge to the infantry company of the 7th Panzer Division. When the 17313th Infantry Battalion arrived, the infantry company of the 7th Panzer Division was unwilling to surrender its position.

At that time, the officers and soldiers of both sides almost fought over this matter.

Later, after Ding Zhennan issued an order in the name of Shi Zhiliang, Lu Liaoyuan gave an order to the infantry company occupying the Euphrates River Bridge, handed over the bridge to the 17313th Mechanized Infantry Battalion, and immediately returned to Nuhaib to participate in the combat operation against Bag X.

Fu Weimin also made a guarantee that he would do his best to provide logistical support for the 7th Armored Division.

In fact, Fu Weimin knows very well in his heart. It is precisely because the 17th Armored Division did not give strength in the bridge capture operation that Lu Liaoyuan of the 7th Armored Division did not want to hand over the bridge, after all, whether this bridge can operate normally is related to the life and death of tens of thousands of officers and soldiers of the 7th Armored Division!

After taking the bridge over the Euphrates River at Shinafyeh, the march into Bag X officially began.